Backgammon is a game which has been played for many years and is still being played by millions of persons throughout the world. Despite the popularity of the game, the apparatus used for playing backgammon has remained substantially the same since it was invented. While such apparatus and the rules of backgammon are well-known, it will be helpful to describe them briefly for a better understanding of the present invention.
Backgammon is played with pieces on a board having 24 positions. The game is played by two players who manually move game pieces or men a number of positions on the board as determined by the throw of dice. Each player has fifteen men which are arranged on several positions about the board at the beginning of the game. The opposing players move their men in opposite directions on the board and it is the object of the game for each player to be the first to move all of his men into his "home" position to win the game, the "home" position being off the board. The "0" position of one player is the "home" position of the other player.
The position of the opposing men on the board determines the legality of a move. Each player builds up obstacles for his opponent by moving two or more men to the same position on the board. If a player has two or more men on one position, then this position is blocked and his opponent cannot move onto it, regardless of the dice throw. The rules also specify that if a player has one man on a position, then that one man is vulnerable. If the opponent moves his man to this position, he bumps that one man which then must be moved back to the 0 position.